http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/8114.htmlColumbia, S.C. – With polls showing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton lagging behind Sen. Barack Obama here, the Clinton campaign is concentrating on competing hard in selected congressional districts in an effort to keep Obama from running up the score in Saturday’s primary.
The strategy hinges on how the Democrats award the state’s 54 delegates to the national convention. Unlike the Republicans' winner-take-all approach, the Democrats give 35 percent of delegates to the state’s winner and allocate the remaining delegates based on the candidates’ performance in each of the state's six congressional districts.
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The four congressional districts based in the Upstate region or with a significant coastal component are the four with the lowest percentage of African-Americans. According to the state Election Commission, these districts—the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th—have non-white registered voter populations ranging from 19 to 26 percent.
The other two districts, the 5th and the 6th, have significantly higher percentages of non-white registered voters. The 5th has a non-white registered voter population of 30 percent while the 6th District is 57 percent non-white. Neither are located in the Upstate or coastal areas, though there is some minor overlap.
Clinton has not entirely conceded the African-American vote and campaigned at historically black Benedict College in Columbia on Friday.
Her presence on the trail in South Carolina on Thursday, Friday and Saturday tends to contradict speculation earlier in the week that Clinton was pulling out of the state to concentrate on Super Tuesday contests.
The campaign has squads of veterans and women roving the state working to get-out-the vote Saturday.
There is a concerted effort to make sure women go to the polls, which includes mobilizing a 1,000-member women’s committee. Over the last two days, committee members have phone-banked and stumped in 12 cities, said Clinton South Carolina spokesman Zac Wright.
“The woman’s vote is crucial to the strategy,” he said.